I hang out quite a bit with this sweet child. She is full of energy, love, laughter, deep emotion, and a constant eagerness to share all of her favorite things with Aunt Trish.
One of her favorites right now is Ms. Rachel.
“What’s in the box? What could it be?
Do you want to take something out with me?”
The song is simple and repetitive, as toddler songs often are. But somehow, it stayed with me this week.
I was thinking about it as I walked to get the mail.
Even at 56 years old, I realize there is still a small part of me that opens the mailbox with just a little bit of hope. Most days, I expect the same ordinary stack—junk mail, advertisements, bills, paperwork.
And yet somewhere underneath the routine thought is still the question:
What’s in the box? What could it be?
Maybe there will be something sent specifically to me.
Something hand-addressed.
Something thoughtful.
Something personal.
And honestly, stamps are kind of fun these days.
Sometimes there is an envelope with a beautiful flower stamp or an old-fashioned school bus or a carefully chosen design that tells me someone paused long enough to make sending the letter feel special.
When that happens, I find myself sitting down to open it with a surprising sense of anticipation.
I wonder if you know that feeling too.
The quiet joy of realizing someone thought of you long enough to write something down. The unexpected encouragement of being remembered in the middle of ordinary life.
This week, somewhere between sorting the mail and admiring the stamps, I noticed something shift in me.
I moved from receiver to sender.
I set up my little space with cards, pens, cute stamps, and my favorite return address stamp. And suddenly I found myself excited—not about what might be waiting for me in the mailbox, but about what might someday arrive in someone else’s.
A small encouragement.
A thoughtful word.
A reminder that someone sees them.
Maybe that is part of what keeps the toddler jingle lingering in my heart:
“What’s in the box? What could it be?
Do you want to take something out with me?”
Maybe the deeper invitation is this:
Do you want to help carry joy with me?
Hope with me?
Encouragement with me?
Because sometimes the most meaningful things we receive are the things someone intentionally chose to send.
